Candidate Who Lost To PM Modi Twice, Renominated By Congress From Varanasi

The Congress has named its UP chief Ajay Rai as the candidate from the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency in its fourth list for the upcoming elections. Of the 17 candidates on the list, nine are for UP. This is Mr Rai’s third direct contest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the general elections after 2014 and 2019. He had lost both times to PM Modi, who is seeking a historic third term with a massive single-party mandate for the BJP. In 2014, PM Modi won with over 56% vote share, while Mr Rai managed to get around 75,000 votes. Arvind Kejriwal had come in second with a margin of over 3.5 lakh votes.